Daniel 6:28

So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Scholars have estimated that Daniel was about 90 years old—toward the end of his lifetime of civil service to successful regimes—when he experienced God’s miraculous protection in the lion’s den. God honored Daniel’s faith and obedience and used him to bless Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, and Persians. We may confidently expect to enjoy fellowship together around the throne of God with members of each of these ancient peoples. Daniel was faithful to his mission. Will Daniel be able to enjoy fellowship at that same gathering with representatives of other people groups because we too have been faithful to the task to which the Lord calls us?

Pray that God will give us the perseverance to serve well like Daniel of old.

Bakhtari People

by WK

Where have all the young men gone? wondered the old man as he tended his flock of sheep and goats that grazed on the bare brown hills of Iran. His sons now worked in the oil fields of Kuwait. They sent him money and wrote glowing letters about life in a modern Arab country. The old man knew there wouldn’t be another generation of herders in his family. Each year there were fewer herds grazing in the mountains. More and more Bahhtari families were settling down and becoming farmers.

The Bakhtaris are part of a large group of nomadic herding peoples living in Iran. They speak the Lur language. Lur originally meant “gypsy” and that was what the dominant Iranian people group called all wandering herder people groups living among them. Like the Qashqais we prayed for yesterday, the Bakhtaris are probably Turkic in origin. Unlike the Qashqai, who’ve retained most of their customs, the Bakhtari people were forced to give up many of their customs after a failed rebellion during the 1920s. Today this people group is rapidly becoming Westernized.

Pray that a mission group will target the Bakhtari for outreach. Ask God to start the work of translating the Bible into the Lur language. This language has never been written down. Pray also for the start of gospel radio broadcasts in the Lur language.